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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25623430">things left unsaid</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account'>orphan_account</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>do not disturb au [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>EXO (Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Dungeons &amp; Dragons Inspired, Fantasy AU, Fluff, M/M, Suggested Sex, adventure questing!, but also very soft, fighter baek, they're both kind of horny :/, warlock dae</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 09:20:21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,255</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25623430</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Midway through their journey to bring down the Red Force demon, Baekhyun and his party take up at shelter at an inn on the side of the forest. There, he runs into a very, very familiar face.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Byun Baekhyun/Kim Jongdae | Chen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>do not disturb au [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1916353</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>72</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>things left unsaid</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Night has already fallen by the time they make it to the edge of town. A row of flickering lanterns illuminates an old wooden sign that reads <em> THE BLACK PEARL — serving bed, breakfast, and beer. </em> The inn itself, a little farther down a neatly paved cobblestone path, is lit up brightly. Baekhyun can hear faint chatter coming from the small establishment.</p><p>"Look good to you guys?" Baekhyun asks the rest of his party. He gets a mixed reaction: Jongin, who's still tending to Chanyeol's semi-significant injuries, nods immediately. Sehun shrugs, a little woozy coming out of his transformation. Kyungsoo, however, scowls—likely still upset at not being taken seriously earlier.</p><p>Yeah, that's on Baekhyun. In his defense, the part of the forest they were wading through was so sparse that it seemed impossible for anything to be hiding in the undergrowth. Who knew that Chanyeol's lyre music was so insufferable to malevolent bush spirits?</p><p>"Do you want to scout ahead?" Baekhyun offers, trying to make it up now, grimacing when he feels the cut on his stomach protest. He's not entirely uninjured, either, but Jongin's spent most of his limited healing spells on the far more unfortunate Chanyeol. "I should have trusted you earlier," Baekhyun admits, placatingly. "That was definitely a fight we could have avoided, and I'm sorry I didn't listen."</p><p>"Me too," Chanyeol agrees. "Normally, people like my music."</p><p>Kyungsoo looks less angry than exasperated. "I'm just glad no one got too hurt," he finally says. "And sure, I'll look ahead."</p><p>He melts into the shadows again, causing Baekhyun to shiver. No matter how long he's been traveling with the rogue, he'll never get used to how instantly he disappears.</p><p>"It'll be good to sleep in an actual bed," Jongin says. Baekhyun turns to look at him and winces at the exhaustion written all over his face. Those bush spirits had gotten Chanyeol pretty badly.</p><p>"And eat actual breakfast," Chanyeol agrees, grinning a little, even as he's still winded from being knocked out.</p><p>"And <em> beer</em>." Sehun, the youngest of the party, has only been back in human form for half an hour at best, but it looks like he's recovering faster than usual with the promise of alcohol. "Kyungsoo needs to come back soon."</p><p>Hardly a second later, <em> something </em>sidles up to him, startling Baekhyun so bad that he yelps and grabs the hilt of his sword, only to turn around to face Kyungsoo's smug grin. "For a fearless leader, you're sure jumpy."</p><p>"Shut up." Baekhyun pulls a face, but he knows the teasing's deserved. Better yet, he knows that this means they're on good terms again. "Is it safe?"</p><p>Kyungsoo's grin becomes salacious. "For us, yeah. Not for you, though."</p><p>Before Baekhyun can ask what the hell that means, Jongin whoops and drags Chanyeol down the cobblestone path toward the inn without so much as a look back. Sehun follows shortly after, and Kyungsoo shrugs at Baekhyun. "You coming?"</p><p>Confused, Baekhyun swallows his question and puts his hand back on Mongryong's hilt for a little bit of comfort. Then, at a loss, he follows them down.</p><p><br/>
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</p><p>The innkeeper seems friendly enough, Baekhyun decides. He is most likely not the cause for concern. Baekhyun is nowhere near as perceptive as Kyungsoo, but he's next best in the party. Kim Minseok is not a large man, and yet he looks at ease behind the counter, well-defined arms crossed across his chest as he watches Baekhyun count the gold pieces out.</p><p>Around them, the bustle of the inn is loud. There are a lot of people in here, and none of them had really paid much attention when Baekhyun and his group had entered.</p><p>"You guys are the ones chasing the Red Force, aren't you?" Minseok asks, swiping the gold off of the counter. "Looking to chase down <em> the </em> Demon?" He nods at Kyungsoo, Jongin, Sehun, and Chanyeol, but addresses the question to Baekhyun.</p><p>"Uh, yeah," Baekhyun says, a little on edge. They'd done a fair bit of side-questing, having rid a few small villages of minor demons and such, but for their reputation to have reached the other side of the Black Forest is unreasonable. "How'd you know?"</p><p>Minseok gives another sly grin. "Things have a way of getting around." Baekhyun looks at his party and frowns again at the identical grin that Kyungsoo's sporting. He's getting real tired of not knowing what's going on.</p><p>"Here are your keys for the night. Rooms upstairs, bar downstairs," Minseok says instead. Jongin snatches a key without waiting and drags Chanyeol up to rest. After a moment's hesitation, Sehun grabs the other and stares at Kyungsoo and Baekhyun.</p><p>"I'm going to drink," he declares. "Do either of you want to sleep?"</p><p>"Baekhyun's going to go with you," Kyungsoo says. He holds out the hand for Sehun's key and catches it easily, smiling that same insufferable knowing smile at Baekhyun. "Don't go too overboard, though. I know you didn't tell Jongin, but that cut on your stomach is pretty nasty."</p><p>Again, Baekhyun turns to stare. Is he that easy to read? But Kyungsoo's already heading up the stairs, stretching and yawning as he disappears onto the second floor.</p><p>"Let's go get drunk," he finally manages, holding out an arm to Sehun. It's immediately rejected.</p><p>"I'm not sticking by you," Sehun says as they descend together. "You're useless. You look like you can drink a lot, and then you get knocked out by a bottle of plumwine."</p><p>Baekhyun shrugs, unsurprised. He has long accepted the fact that he is, as Jongin puts it, the lightest of lightweights. "I'm babysitting <em> you</em>," he argues, because he has no other reasonable comeback. Sehun declines to respond.</p><p><br/>
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</p><p>The room that the stairwell opens into is large and lit by rows of swinging chandeliers. As one of the only rest stops on this side of the Black Forest, the inn is ridiculously packed; tables filled to the brim with passers-through and local businessmen. The bartenders on duty are wood dryads, it looks like, their wooden bodies sweeping through the masses while expertly balancing cups of magnolia berry tea and mugs of woodland beer on silver platters.</p><p>Baekhyun gratefully grabs a cup of tea. Omija-cha is sweet and light, the perfect drink for nighttime. He'd rather that any day over beer. Two sips in, though, someone pulls in <em> very </em> close to his personal space.</p><p>"Hi there," Yixing chirps, sporting a crooked smile as he reaches up to poke the pocket of fat on Baekhyun's left cheek. "Good to see you two. How's your party? We saw Kyungsoo earlier, he came to say hi."</p><p>The healer's eyes sparkle with mischief, but he smells strongly of rice wine. There's a little sway in his step when he leans back. It's been a while since Baekhyun's seen him and his leather satchel filled with potions, having split ways before entering the Black Forest to track down separate goals.</p><p>"We've been decent. Chanyeol's upstairs resting with Jongin," Baekhyun replies, but he's already stopped paying attention to the burgeoning conversation, eyes searching the room beyond his friend's head. If Yixing's here, that must mean...</p><p>"Your one-track-mind is astounding," Yixing laughs. "Table in the far back, red robes." Without even thinking, Baekhyun snaps his gaze to the furthest side of the room.</p><p>And sure enough, Jongdae's looking back at Baekhyun too, eyes dark and satisfied. He's in an outfit that Baekhyun's never seen before, all scarlet and black and gold, fabric draped carefully over his slim frame. Silently, Jongdae rises from the table and makes his way toward the doorway, where they've been standing.</p><p>"See you tomorrow," Yixing teases, turning to leave. Sehun thumps Baekhyun good-naturedly on the back and moves away too. He doesn't bother to respond, which they seem to think is the funniest thing ever.</p><p>Baekhyun's throat is dry as he swallows, finishing the tea in his hand, and he leans against the wall, not-so-subtly checking Jongdae out as the warlock makes his way over. He looks good. Again, it's been a while since they've been together—at least a month if Chanyeol's timekeeping is to be trusted. An obnoxious pick-up line rises to the tip of Baekhyun's tongue, but Jongdae gets there before he can say it.</p><p>"Fancy seeing you here," Jongdae says. If Yixing had crowded into Baekhyun's personal space, Jongdae positively <em> invades </em>it, leaning close enough for his warm breath to fan over Baekhyun's face. A daring hand reaches up to unbuckle Baekhyun's breastplate and Baekhyun laughs, reaching up to grab it before it can go much further.</p><p>"You're quite drunk," Baekhyun says. He doesn't let go of Jongdae's hand though, bringing it up to his lips in a gentle kiss instead. "Still good to see you, though."</p><p>"I have a single room," is what Jongdae says in response. "You should come upstairs with me."</p><p>Baekhyun closes his eyes, curses Kyungsoo under his breath, and then opens his eyes back up in resignation. "I don't think I can," he says. "I need to rest for tomorrow; we're likely going to be heading into another fight."</p><p>Jongdae grins, yanking his hand out of Baekhyun's grasp to prod him in the chest playfully. "That's never stopped you before," he accuses, stepping close and running his other hand up Baekhyun's side. However, the movement jostles Baekhyun's injury and he can't quite stifle his hiss of pain.</p><p>In a flash, Jongdae's smile turns into a concerned frown. He flattens his hand out and presses it lightly against Baekhyun's sternum, checking for damage. "Where are you hurt?" he asks, eyes roving over Baekhyun's figure in a far less suggestive way than earlier.</p><p>Baekhyun considers lying and immediately decides against it when he sees Jongdae's eyes narrow. Damn.</p><p>"Lower abdomen. Nasty scratch from a bush spirit," Baekhyun admits. "Caught me right under the edge of my breastplate when I was moving up to attack."</p><p>"Chanyeol?"</p><p>"Got hurt worse than I did. Once he's better, I'll ask him to take a look at me." Baekhyun smiles thinly. An odd silence settles over them as Jongdae furrows his eyebrows, clearly thinking hard about something.</p><p>Smart boys are hot, Baekhyun thinks. Jongdae is hot already, so him being smart is double hot.</p><p>"Take off your breastplate," Jongdae orders, suddenly. "There's kind of a new trick I want to try."</p><p>Flustered—and wondering if he'd been caught—Baekhyun raises his eyebrows. "Here?"</p><p>Jongdae looks around, squinting at the large number of people surrounding them. He grimaces and shakes his head. "I honestly think it'd be better upstairs. Just to be cautious."</p><p>"Sure, just to be cautious," Baekhyun mocks, but Jongdae shoots him a Look and he quiets down obediently.</p><p>They climb the staircase in relative silence, Jongdae's hand wrapped around Baekhyun's wrist to stabilize him, despite his protests. His ears burn when they pass Minseok, who looks up and says nothing, but clearly notices how close Baekhyun's shoulders are to Jongdae's back. He gives a half-smile and then averts his gaze back to the front door of the inn.</p><p>Jongdae's room isn't large: just a single oak frame bed, a dresser (currently occupied by a pile of spellbooks), and a simple bathroom. He gently shoves Baekhyun toward the bathroom.</p><p>"Clean up the wound. And maybe yourself, too. You kind of smell." Jongdae ignores Baekhyun's whining ("You try being in a dark forest for two weeks!") and instead begins rifling through one of his pouches.</p><p>The hot water is nice, though. Baekhyun watches the mud swirl down the drain and okay, maybe Jongdae was right. He'd walked out of that forest pretty filthy. </p><p>What's not so nice, however, is the wound on his stomach. Baekhyun grits his teeth and tries to wash off the grime around the scratch, but instead of healing, it only seems to have gotten worse. The water hisses wherever it comes into contact with the scratch, and it sends a bout of dizzying pain through his body. Baekhyun leans against the shower wall, woozy. Poison, he realizes. The stupid bush spirits had poison in their claws. Angry red lines are inching their way up his abdomen.</p><p>"Well, at least Jongin can remove that, so Chanyeol should be okay," Baekhyun mutters, starting to regret his decisions again. Maybe he should have mentioned the injury earlier.</p><p>He stumbles out of the shower and grabs a towel off the wall, instantly realizing a problem as he does so. His clothes and armor are all gone.</p><p>"Jongdae?" he calls. When there's no response, Baekhyun groans, holds the towel out to shield himself, and steps out of the bathroom, annoyed. "Jongdae, you bastard, give me my clothes back—"</p><p>The warlock, now dressed in a far less flashy black robe, looks up from the ground, where he's been meticulously casting cleaning spells on Baekhyun's mud-covered armor. Folded in a neat pile next to him are Baekhyun's pants and white shirt, no longer bloody or dirty.</p><p>"Oh." The momentary exasperation in Baekhyun's body dissolves entirely into ridiculous appreciation and adoration. He can't quite stop the silly grin spreading across his face. "Thanks, love."</p><p>"Not your housewife," Jongdae says, but he flicks his hand, and Baekhyun's clothes are sent flying over. He has to drop a corner of the towel to catch them, and Jongdae doesn't pretend to look away, instead eyeing Baekhyun's bare chest with delight. "Unless you want to do both of us a <em> favor</em>, you should put these on. Watch the wound."</p><p>Baekhyun ducks back into the bathroom and slips on his pants, then his shirt. After the shower, though, even soft cotton is unbearable against the cut. He gathers the hem of his shirt in his hands and holds it away from his body, walking back out just as Jongdae finishes cleaning off the last of Baekhyun's armor.</p><p>"So, uh, it's a little worse than I thought." Baekhyun sits on the edge of the bed, and the movement is excruciating. In the past five minutes, the pain has doubled. Jongdae joins him, dusting off his hands and reaching out.</p><p>"Can I see?"</p><p>Baekhyun nods. Gingerly, Jongdae takes the hem of Baekhyun's shirt and lifts up. He inhales sharply.</p><p>"Oh, darling," Jongdae mutters. "That looks awful." He studies it a little bit more, eyebrows drawn up high in concern. "Are you sure that you got scratched by a bush spirit?"</p><p>"Yeah, that's what Jongin said when he saw them."</p><p>"And he was able to heal Chanyeol?"</p><p>Baekhyun thinks. When Chanyeol had first gone down, Jongin's magic was limited but quite effective, healing up scratches and bites until only smooth skin was left. "Definitely. None of them reacted weird to water, either. I figured it wasn't that serious if Jongin could fix it without a trace."</p><p>Upon hearing that, Jongdae draws back. "You said it reacted to water... Hold your shirt up," he tells Baekhyun, leaning over him to grab a notebook and a small bottle of ointment he'd set out on the dresser. "Did the one that scratched you get anyone else?"</p><p>"...No," Baekhyun responds slowly. "It was the first one that came out. Sehun killed it almost immediately."</p><p>Jongdae says something under his breath that Baekhyun doesn't catch, but it sounds kind of like a curse. The warlock shakes his head and begins to flip through the notebook in his hands. When he clearly finds what he's looking for, Jongdae reads silently for a bit, tosses the book to the ground, and then reaches over again to pull out a small, jewel-encrusted dagger.</p><p>"You are so fucking lucky," Jongdae says, voice forcibly light, "that you ran into me."</p><p>"Always," Baekhyun flirts, but the expression on Jongdae's face is one of shocked, terrified relief. "Wait— Jongdae?"</p><p>"Your party's been hunting down the Red Force that cast the curse on the True King. You know my party's been searching for the cure," Jongdae says. He scoffs again and shakes his head in disbelief. "In a bush spirit ambush, the first to attack is the leader of the pack. For protection, bush spirit leaders often are pacted with demons—and the one you ran into must have been pacted <em> with the Red Force</em>."</p><p>Baekhyun gapes.</p><p>"You didn't even tell your party. From the time you got that scratch, you had twenty-four hours left to live." Jongdae fixes Baekhyun with a sharp look. "The poison in your scratch stems from the Red Force itself. I've been studying it for months. It is, by all metrics, uncurable."</p><p>But before Baekhyun can reply, Jongdae sighs and smiles tentatively. "Well, it would be, had I not literally figured out the antidote yesterday."</p><p>"You're <em> so </em> hot," Baekhyun blurts. In response, he gets a rather bewildered—but definitely pleased—look from Jongdae.</p><p>Jongdae snorts disbelievingly, but his demeanor relaxes a bit. "Glad you have your priorities straight," he gripes, twisting open the bottle of ointment. Inside, something glows a bright blue. "Lie back."</p><p>The ointment is so cold it burns. Baekhyun yelps when Jongdae presses his fingers down, trying to twist away. His chest rises and falls frantically. "Holy <em> fuck</em>, Jongdae, ow!"</p><p>The warlock doesn't respond. Instead, Jongdae closes his eyes and mutters rapid-fire under his breath, in a language Baekhyun can't understand. A brighter white light begins to emanate from his hands, and Baekhyun watches, transfixed, as it seeps into his flesh and begins to fade the red lines on his skin. As the minutes go by, the pain slowly abates until Baekhyun's breathing slows down to normal and he realizes he can't feel any pain there anymore.</p><p>Finally, Jongdae lets go only to grab the jeweled dagger and make a swift horizontal cut in his wrist. He holds out his hand until Baekhyun's stomach is slick with deep purple blood, and then heals himself quickly. The blood on Baekhyun's stomach vanishes into the ointment. When Jongdae grabs a rag and wipes all the residue off of Baekhyun, his skin is smooth—no sign of the cut that had just previously been festering and spreading blood poisoning around his body.</p><p>"What..." Baekhyun finally asks, mouth dry. It's been years since he got to know all these magicfolk, but every now and then, something will come along that really floors him. Jongdae, for one, consistently freaks him out. "What the hell was that blue shit?"</p><p>"That blue shit," Jongdae scolds, "takes a month to brew just one batch. I have been working on the recipe for that 'blue shit' since before I met you. It's an <em> instant </em> cure to one of the deadliest poisons in existence, thank you very much." He rubs at where his self-inflicted dagger wound had been. "We finally got frostflowers last week. I'm glad the blood worked, though. I had to use a lot more on you than I did on the rabbit we fixed yesterday."</p><p>There's a beat of silence as Jongdae gets lost in his thoughts. Baekhyun looks down to poke at where his wound used to be. "Is that it? Can you use that on the king?"</p><p>Jongdae, surprised, turns to look at him. "No, unfortunately," he says, letting go of Baekhyun's shirt. He starts packing everything back into his little pouch, casting a small protective spell when it's all in. "Poison from the Red Force is devastating, but it's still nothing compared to the demon's personal magic. I'm still proud of finding the cure, though."</p><p>Absolutely none of the pain lingers, which is pretty amazing. For what it's worth, Baekhyun thinks Jongdae's always been absolutely amazing, though, regardless of all these magical healing shenanigans. He won't admit it out loud. He knows Jongdae knows. </p><p>With a groan, Baekhyun sits back up. He waves Jongdae off when the warlock snaps his head around, mistaking his noise for pain. "I'm completely fine, thanks to you. Good enough for sex." Baekhyun grins sunnily. "You have my services whenever you need them; after all, a life debt is a life debt."</p><p>"That it is," Jongdae agrees. He sets his pouch down on the counter and then turns to look at Baekhyun, who's sprawled out comfortably on Jongdae's bed. "What would I ever need from you, though..."</p><p>"I can fight fairly well!" Baekhyun protests, only playfully indignant. "I'm a sworn sword of the Imperial Castle, I've fought in numerous battles and won. You'll never have to fear your honor being besmirched. On my off-days, I can be found saving damsels in distress."</p><p>At that, Jongdae raises an eyebrow. "Oh, damsels in distress, huh." He sits down next to Baekhyun's lazy figure on the bed, looming over him. "You think I'd pass for a damsel in distress?"</p><p>"Absolutely," Baekhyun says, mouth twitching with amusement as Jongdae snorts. "Lovely, pretty Jongdae, in his flowing robes, lovely hands, lovely mouth, lovely—" Jongdae draws away, rolling his eyes. "No, wait, come back."</p><p>"I can do it for you if you like it, though." Jongdae's voice goes breathless and whiny. "Oh, please, good sir, I need the services of a strong soldier."</p><p>Baekhyun's breath hitches in his throat, and something swoops low in his gut. That's not fair<em>, </em>he thinks. The temperature in the room seems to be ten degrees higher than it had been seconds ago, leaving Baekhyun scrambling for words. Jongdae is stupidly good-looking, even as he mocks Baekhyun; frankly, Baekhyun has too little self-preservation to <em> not </em> be horny right now.</p><p>"And what would you like this good soldier to do for you?" Baekhyun tries to say it confidently, but it comes out kind of wrecked. He's too gone to be embarrassed.</p><p>"He should be broad-shouldered and handsome, should fight well and defend my honor. But most importantly..." Somehow, Jongdae's hovering over Baekhyun now, close enough for their noses to almost touch. Baekhyun can't look anywhere else. Jongdae leans down and presses his lips directly against the shell of Baekhyun's ear."... most importantly, he should let me fuck him through the mattress."</p><p>Oh. Baekhyun's brain-to-mouth filter immediately malfunctions. In any other situation, the line would be absolutely ridiculous, but Baekhyun has had nothing but his hand for the past month, and now Jongdae is leaning over him, breathing hot in his ear. "I know a guy," he squeaks, startling a laugh out of Jongdae.</p><p>"This is stupid," Jongdae says, nosing gently at Baekhyun's cheek. He chances a glance down and cackles when he spies the bulge in the front of Baekhyun's pants. "I can't believe how much that got to you."</p><p>"Shut up," Baekhyun complains, face aflame. The mortification is catching up to him now. "Jongdae, you're the worst. I hate you."</p><p>"Aw, darling, don't be like that." Jongdae drops two apologetic kisses on either side of Baekhyun's red face, and then one on his nose, which only somewhat placates him. Then, Jongdae lies down, leaning his head against Baekhyun's chest, curling up comfortably into him. "But you did just recover from a life-threatening injury. Plus, if you're sore tomorrow, Kyungsoo will have my head."</p><p>"Can't a quick healing spell fix that?"</p><p>Jongdae laughs. "My dumb little soldier," he croons.</p><p>"You're so fucking <em> mean</em>, Jongdae, is it a sin to be horny—"</p><p>To Baekhyun's frustration, Jongdae keeps laughing. "Depending on the religion, yes. But I'm not a healer. I can deal with the Red Force's poison because as a demon, it's an inherently magical thing. I can fix the cuts I give myself during rituals because that's also inherently magical. If you pull a muscle sitting on my dick, though, I'm not much help."</p><p>"Then can I fuck you?" No pulling punches. Tomorrow, Baekhyun knows they're supposed to head back into the Black Forest, which means another two weeks of shitty handjobs in a tent, assuming their tent holds. Either that or he can sneak off at night, which is the best way to get picked off and die with his pants around his knees. Truly humiliating.</p><p>"Sorry, love, I had a heavy dinner. Didn't plan on seeing you tonight." Jongdae presses another kiss to the side of his face. "I wasn't supposed to see you for another two months, honestly. This is nice."</p><p>Defeated, Baekhyun falls silent. It's true, seeing Jongdae has been, quite literally, life-saving. Unfortunately, he's still hard.</p><p>Then, his brain snaps back into gear: "I'll suck you off?"</p><p>At that, Jongdae goes still. Baekhyun watches a few emotions flicker across his face, namely amusement and... arousal? He gets confirmation as the warlock's pupils dilate just the slightest bit, and Baekhyun bites back a smile. Glad to know he's still got it, despite Jongdae's dedication to being safe.</p><p>"Hm." Jongdae props himself up on one elbow, staring again, eyes hooded. Considering. "I do like your mouth."</p><p>"It doesn't matter if my voice is a little hoarse tomorrow," Baekhyun argues. "I'm not a spellcaster. Don't need any words to swing a sword around."</p><p>"Alright," Jongdae murmurs. He sits up against the headboard, spreading his legs slightly and patting the space in between. "I guess you can start paying off that life debt now."</p><p>Baekhyun grins, rolling over to his front to lie between Jongdae's knees. "You got it, boss."</p><p><br/>
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</p><p>The next morning, a sharp knock startles Baekhyun out of his dreams. Groggily, he raises his head. Jongdae's already awake and alert, eyes crinkling into a smile as he looks down to make eye contact with Baekhyun.</p><p>Jongdae kisses the tip of Baekhyun's nose again. It seems to be a thing, now, and Baekhyun is not going to complain. "Think the knocking's for you, darling."</p><p>The flood of warmth Baekhyun gets from being addressed so sweetly evaporates at the sound of Chanyeol's voice. "Get dressed quickly, because I'm opening the door in exactly five minutes!" he crows. </p><p>"Don't want to go," Baekhyun mumbles. "I hate getting dressed."</p><p>"Necessary evil," Jongdae agrees. "Your armor's by the bed on the other side, along with the rest of your clothes."</p><p>Groaning, Baekhyun tries to close his eyes and settle back into Jongdae's chest, but the warlock shifts, snorting. Next thing Baekhyun knows, he's been dragged off the bed by insistent hands. "Nooo..."</p><p>"You're fucking heavy," Jongdae grunts. "Put on your own clothes."</p><p>"Why can't you put them on for me?"</p><p>"I mean, I did take them <em> off </em> for you last night..."</p><p>Lewd. Lewd and terrible. Baekhyun takes a deep breath and decides to put his clothes on, or else he's going to jump Jongdae instead and not get anywhere. Or worse, he's going to jump Jongdae and then Chanyeol is going to magically unlock the door and see Baekhyun's bare ass. He'll have to quit adventuring, maybe take up in a monastery somewhere and hide forever.</p><p>As Baekhyun buckles the last of his armor back on, carding a hand through his hair in the imitation of brushing it, Jongdae sobers up a little. He's still only wearing linen pants and the sparse black robe, untied. It shows off the flat expanse of his chest and a silver necklace that Baekhyun hadn't noticed.</p><p>"That's new," he says when he's all done gearing up for the day. Jongdae shrugs.</p><p>"Put it on last night after you slept. Bound items need time to adapt to their users."</p><p>Reflexively, Baekhyun's hand goes up to his own throat. His fingers close around a thin line of silver whose weight he can't feel. "Whoa."</p><p>"Fairy steel." Jongdae pauses, frowns. "Sorry, I should have asked before... It's just a protective measure. I'm worried that something like the bush spirits is going to happen again."</p><p>Baekhyun looks down, oddly touched. He tugs at the steel, but the metal doesn't give at all. "You <em> do </em>care," he accuses lightly.</p><p>He doesn't expect for Jongdae to look at him so seriously. "Of course I do," Jongdae says, voice light, but his words are heavy. "You have to come back safe."</p><p>"Likewise," Baekhyun says, a little lamely. He holds the gaze and then tucks his two fingers under the necklace. "Do I break this when I need you? Does it go both ways?"</p><p>"Smart boy," Jongdae muses. Baekhyun waits for sarcasm but it doesn't come. This is rare and probably undeserved, so he'll take it. Baekhyun preens, and Jongdae notices, grinning. "You're the only one who can break yours, and you can't do it by accident, either. If I break mine, you'll know."</p><p>Baekhyun kisses him. It's a little awkward—their teeth clack once, but they know each other's bodies well, have mapped out the way they fit together so many times that they find a comfortable spot easily. He brings a hand up to curl around the nape of Jongdae's neck, tugging him closer. Last night was about relieving an itch. This is about soaking up their last few seconds together.</p><p>"We're at four minutes and fifty," Jongdae says, pulling away. How the hell he managed to keep count, Baekhyun will never know. He personally thinks his brain is pure mush now. </p><p>The warlock looks soft and unguarded, gentle and a little resigned. Baekhyun sneaks in a last kiss—he aims for the nose, too. Jongdae laughs, caught. "Baekhyun, come on. Chanyeol'll break in any minute."</p><p>This is the way they live, Baekhyun realizes. This is the way it has been; this is the way it'll always be. Both of them are too busy to stay in one place for long, too focused on the responsibility that rests on their shoulders, too antsy to consider settling down. When the present is life-or-death, there's no time to dream about the future. But he can't help but hope. Maybe after they save the world this time, Jongdae'll consider joining Baekhyun's adventuring party. Maybe Baekhyun will join his.</p><p>But for now, Baekhyun steps across the room and slips Mongryong into the scabbard hanging off at his side.</p><p>"You have to come back safe too," Baekhyun says, repeating Jongdae's words back to him. "I trust you."</p><p>"Thanks. If anything, <em> you're </em> the damsel in distress."</p><p>Before Baekhyun can retort, Chanyeol plays a loud chord on his lyre and the door springs open with a click. The bard, looking freshly healed, takes a look and seems disappointed that he hadn't stumbled into a more incriminatory scene.</p><p>"We gotta go," he says.</p><p>Baekhyun nods, points a finger at Jongdae as he leaves. "This isn't over," he says, trying and failing to keep the fondness out of his voice. "I'll get you back."</p><p>Jongdae stands in the doorway of his room, easy grin on his face, open black robe and equally black curly hair swaying in a wind that shouldn't exist indoors. Unreasonably magical. "I'd like to see you try."</p><p>And Baekhyun, completely smitten, turns back one last time anyway to stare at Jongdae, a few words they haven't really shared before stuck in his throat. He can't seem to force them out. He doesn't need to. Jongdae gets it. Baekhyun doesn't have to do any more searching to understand what Jongdae's soft eyes are telling him, either.</p><p>Baekhyun spends one more second staring, and then twists back around to go down the stairs. He doesn't need to look to know Jongdae's still there, never needs to check that Jongdae's got his back. A warmth settles in his chest that hadn't been there before, something tender and lovely and determined to <em> come back alive. </em>He exits out into the cool morning air, as the sun slowly begins to rise, and grins at the rest of his party. Baekhyun crackles his knuckles, watches as Kyungsoo shoulders his bow, as Jongin grips his staff, as Sehun pockets his daggers, as Jongin just smiles knowingly. Baekhyun hasn't felt this good in ages.</p><p>"Ready to kick some demon ass?" <br/>
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  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>there is LOTS more to their story but i haven't written it yet, so stay tuned? maybe! </p><p>for your information, this is the official class breakdown for baekhyun's party (5e), who are lame bc no girls:<br/>* baek — was going to make him a barbarian but couldn't justify rage. so fighter<br/>* jongin — ranger, with a healing kit<br/>* chanyeol — bard. lmfao<br/>* kyungsoo — rogue, deserved a lot more screentime than i could give him<br/>* sehun — vague, but in my head, a druid!</p><p>jongdae's some flavor of warlock, and the healing thing is bullshit i made up so he could put his hand on baekhyun's stomach. his party is mostly secret for now, and that is definitely not because i accidentally used too many exo members and left myself with almost no options</p><p>as always, comments are beloved!!! i also have not PERSONALLY PLAYED DND. i would likely die in my first round</p></blockquote></div></div>
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